What's Green and Red and Sore all Over?
by Xx.Toxic.Little.KisseS.xX
Summary: Collection of ZaDr drabbles and one-shots / Chap 06 : It was in all they gave, all they fought with and for. Somehow, even through the hope, they forgot to wish for it back. / chapter warnings: angst. sap. / Collection rating just in case
1. What's green and red and sore all over?

Authors Notes; I figured it was about time for some fluffy ZaDr action =) I think I've tortured (mostly Dib) my loverly boys enough. Can you find the hidden message in my drabble-fic?

Reviews rock my world, and keep my fingers typing (when I should be sleeping instead)

Question; **What's green and red and sore all over?**

Answer;

**(xxx)**

**Admiration:**

It took a few years of fighting, a few months of grudging truce, and a few weeks of volatile friendship before anything romantic began to spark between them - but it was worth it, because the recognition they both spent their lives searching for was clear and bright in each other.

**Normal:**

Dib was never a good human, Zim never an acceptable irken, but that was okay - together, things like that stopped mattering so much.

**Impossable:**

Zim was a few light-years away, abandoning the Earth and the Irken Elite together when he had to stop and look back - he could abandon everything he'd believed in and fought for, but he found himself returning for the one thing that believed in him back.

**Reminiscance:**

The lights above were dim, only bright enough to catch the glow of eyes, the dusk-tinted skin, and the little raised bumps that marked scar tissue, but that was enough, and they lay together naked and relaxed, remembering with laughter the years they spent denying what would inevitably bring them together.

**Kisses:**

It was with actions, and not words, which both the human and irken expressed themselves - unsurprisingly, it mattered little the difference between anger, duty, and love.

**Everything:**

Even if the Tallest rang his number once more, Zim found himself unable to imagine needing the recognition they had him beg for - all that he really needed was half-blind and asleep, drooling in his arms.

**Nudity:**

Though the Earth's general temperature was cooler then Irk, Dib's body heat was warmer then the computers heating system and as clothes were so swiftly discarded and replaced by heated lips and a hotter tongue, Zim barely noticed the difference as his clothes were torn from his body.

**Love:**

Apparently, Dib was finding out, an irken soldier could lie only to a point, while Zim denied human emotions, in the peek of pleasure, his mouth would run rampant with endearments just like any other love-struck fool.

**Eager:**

They fought for years, it was no surprise if you thought about it, the speed in which their clothes would fly at any given moment of the day.

**Awed:**

Zim was a soldier, he reminded himself, it was silly to be so endeared that Dib was brave enough to whisper 'I love you' without his tongue being tied, or his pleasure distracting him.

**Reality:**

The expression 'take a bullet for you' was all well and good, but Dib didn't know any other human that would 'take a bullet from you' and still fall in love.

**Near:**

Dib, blind as he was, couldn't see a thing without his glasses, but the lifetime habit of reaching for them as he woke stopped the first night he spent in the irkens bed - ever since then, Dib reached for Zim to make sure he was close, and real.

**Idiots:**

It was probably the history that lay between them, or the culture differences between their species, but after every fight, no matter the strength of it, they both knew how stupid is was to argue with someone as stubborn and strong as themselves.

**Nothing:**

Dib could capture Zim, any night that the irken fell into slumber before him, and the irken could kill the human, any night the opposite would happen - the only problem with either plan, was without the other, life was meaningless.

**Green:**

Maybe it just confirmed how sick they were, to fall in love with each other regardless of their species - but there was something satisfying to both, when they lay together and their skin felt and looked so unique and precious on the other.

**Together:**

Dib had as many mechanical organs as human one's now, Zim had as many human as irken - when it came to the end of the track for the human's life span, Zim wouldn't have him going alone.

**Orbit:**

It was nothing Zim hadn't seen before, and nothing he would have gotten out of bed to go do before either, but every time he found the human staring up at the sky, he would start up his cruiser and fly like he had nothing better to do then look at the same old stars again and again.

**Loss:**

Membrane didn't want a gay son, Gaz didn't want a brother anyway, the Tallest didn't want a small invader - the night these things were put on the table, it was the irken who whispered "our gain" and took away any ache from the partings, to replace it with a much more pleasant ache.

**Occurrence:**

Dib didn't take the first step towards the bedroom very often, no matter how many kisses and declarations he saw fit to grace his partner with, but when he did whisper with a certain tone, or lower his eyes with a certain heat, or kiss with a certain passion it was something Zim was never to busy to agree to.

**Voyer:**

Gir was sweet like a dog, playful like a child and dumb as a doorknob - but no matter the lack of intellect behind those watching eyes, he wouldn't listen to Zim until the little robot was out of the bedroom.

**End:**

The base was quiet, Gir shut down like a dog put to sleep, Zim and Dib lying on the seats in the irkens starship hovering in orbit, their breath labored and in tandem, "I love you," Dib whispered, as his eyes grew heavy, almost closing amongst his wrinkled skin, "I love you too," Zim promised, his hand squeezing the one held in his with pathetic strength, his own eyes dull against his equally colourless skin - Countless decades had passed, almost a century of them together, "Only the beginning," Zim whispered into the night, as the pair's tandem breath slowed, finally to stop.

**(xxx)**

**Final Authors Notes:** Please don't hate me for the ending, love me for the century before. The sappiness of the final drabble needed to have a level of tragedy, it's what made it a little more real to me

Those who find the hidden message win a oneshot to be posted after this drabble-fest.

Those who find the hidden message, and give me either a new hidden message or mess of words will have both a one-shot and drabble-fest dedicated to them =3

Those who don't find the hidden message can still leave a drabble-fest request, and it will be written and dedicated to them.

If you don't find the hidden message it will be posted on the one-shot posted after this, so don't look if ur still trying to work it out, lol.

Much Love,

Jaffa-chan

xxx


	2. Sensitivity : Invader Ang

**Drabble-fest Hidden Message: **'An Irken Learning to Love'

**Answer: **Zim

**One-shot Dedication: **Invader Ang

**Notes on Dedication:** _Invader Ang _was a very swift and very sweet reviewer :3 While she didn't have a particular request, she did mention liking 'near' so I used that as my muse.

Hope you like it, _Invader Ang!_

**Summary:** A simple misunderstanding, and general overreaction. RATING T

**Chapter Warnings: **Mentions of Sexual situations, sensitive chest-receptors. Sap. Alot of sap.

**Sensitivity**

Gir skittered out of the way as Zim's 'tantrum' involved throwing anything that wasn't bolted, welded or running across the floor.

He wasn't screaming. Rather, his voice was a muttered rant, rising and falling like a tide.

Occasionally his voice would hit a high note on a 'D', a soft note on an 'I' and finally a trailing, lingering, sad note on a 'B'.

Zim's muttering was constant, repetitive and seemingly endless. The cause was missing in action. Or, maybe, the 'missing in action' was the cause, and the remedy was the most frequent thing escaping cool green lips.

Another squeal of metal sounded and echoed through the irken's base, this time the couch itself was tossed with inhuman strength to land with a meaty 'thud' jammed in the door-frame of the kitchen.

It was apparent that Zim wasn't happy. And even Gir, who admittedly wasn't the brightest star in the sky, seemed to have realized the cause.

His second Master wasn't home.

And, if the mutters of the tantrum-ing irken were to be believed, the human had left in the middle of an argument he himself had started.

Zim finally collapsed in amongst the mess of his base, body limp and face bent in a frown of thought.

"Stupid," he muttered, "idiot worm-baby."

The insults, however, did not hold their old bite. In fact, they seemed more affectionately irritated, then anything else.

"Master?" Gir chanced, though he remained well out of arms reach.

Zim looked up, eyes glowing pink under the lights, "what, Gir?"

The little robot swayed on his spot, "is other-master coming back?"

Long, metallic spider-limbs folded slowly into the irken's PAK, the 'retired' invader seeming to calm down in methodical increments, "of course he is."

Gir watched his master rise slowly and brush the dust and rubble from himself, before fetching his Piggeh from it's hiding place under the couch cushion. He still remained out of arms reach and out of the way, but he followed his master down into the heart of the base.

Zim made himself comfortable on the curved seat, still moving in an almost forceful calm as he set the computer to search for his missing partner.

The computer took only a moment to flicker into life, showing a birds-eye-view of the human in question.

"Stupid," Dib muttered, kicking at the ground underneath, "annoying space-boy."

Rather then growing angry again (even as Gir inched a little further away) an almost fond smile spread over the irken's face.

"Call _me_ a girl," Dib muttered then, kicking a rather large rock from his path. It flew from him, darting off into a neardy shrub.

"Like that would be the worst insult I've used, even if it _was_ true" Zim muttered, but it was more light-hearted then his previous mutters.

The human continued kicking pieces of litter and small rocks that crossed his path. Suddenly though he sat on a nearby fence, ignoring the yapping dog behind it.

"It's not like I can help it," an endearing blush dusted his cheeks, "and it's not like he wasn't enjoying it..."

Zim smirked a little, "I think you liked it even more," he commented, feeling his anger drain away, remembering the activities before the argument.

"He's always like that," Dib continued his one-sided conversation, "always picking at me, snide little insults... I wouldn't have to take that in a _normal_ relationship."

The irken accused lost his smirk, replacing it with another thoughtful frown. He didn't think Dib minded, he thought his 'boyfriend' liked the bickering. They weren't normal, he though that's what Dib liked.

"I bet he wouldn't even notice if I never came back," he sighed, the audio transmitter barely picking up the noise, "maybe I should just stay here."

Zim went tense in his seat, "computer, open a search of the human world-wide-web," he instructed, voice as tense as his body, "search 'male chest receptors' and their sensitivity."

"A recent survey on 'Adult Only Admissions' returned results of male chest sensitivity being equal or greater to that of a female," the computers dry tone informed him, "the most recent comments on this survey seem to point to a strong importance on the fact this does not make the male any less of a male."

Zim glanced back at the computer monitor, where Dib was still sitting in his usual 'angst pose', "jerk," the human muttered, burying his face in his hands.

Zim stood abruptly, "Gir!"

Gir skittered back a little further, just to be safe, before saluting, his eyes as red as Zim's in the dimmer light, "SIR!"

"Clean the base upstairs," Zim instructed, "Computer, Locate Dib's position."

The computer relayed the information and Zim left with it without a backwards glance.

Gir, as soon as his master was out of sight, sat in his place in front of the monitor, "I loooove this show," he beamed.

On the screen, Dib continued his quiet rant, though it was muffled through his hands. He also didn't seem to be crying, just frustrated.

Gir squealed with delight as his first master appeared on the screen, adjusting his wig and whispering something inaudible to himself.

The human looked up at the sound of nearby footsteps, hopping to his feet when he realized who was there.

"Zim-" Dib began, only to be cut off as Zim thrust a bar of Choco-bite in his hand.

"You are not female," the irken assured his boyfriend.

Dib frowned, opening his mouth again, this time with an almost nasty twitch to his mouth.

Zim held up a hand for silence and his face turned into that of a constipated pig, "I- Zim is sorry," he almost spat out, "for insulting your chest-receptors. Your noises were quite appropriate."

Dib blushed a deep, bright scarlet from his ears to his chest. He tugged the collar of his trench-coat higher, as though to hide this fact from any peering eyes.

"Idiot," he muttered, though the insult was laced and gooey with affection.

Zim smiled, though his teeth were clenched from having an apology pushed through them.

"Come home?" the irken asked, holding his hand out.

Dib grumbled a little until his blush dulled, but he took Zim's hand and he didn't let go.

**(xxx)**

**Final Notes:** Oh my... that was a little sappier then I thought I could pull off :D For anyone who didn't get this, Zim said Dib was a girl for having sensitive nipples... which means they were doing... nippley-things with each other.

I don't think I've ever written a Zim so caring... he's usually so abusive and, well, insane :D

Hope you liked it :) The next chapter is another Drabble-fest! Same rules as the first Chapter.


	3. Why didn't the irken cross the milkyway?

**Last Drabble-fest Kudo's:** _Invader Ang, Katsumi Amaya, _and _Nights In The City_

**Drabble-fest Dedication: **To all those who have recieved Kudo's. From now on, drabble-fests will need some request's to keep it running, so make sure to leave either a hidden message, question and answer, or a mess of words so this can continue.Thanks guys, for all your support!

**Author Notes:** Your reviews were all so sweet!

_Invader Ang_, I hope you liked the one-shot dedicated to you!

_Katsumi Amaya_, THANKYOU! 3

My sweet _anon-chibi_, I will try to work on your requested fic, but I don't know much about the characters so it may be a while. If you'd like to contact me on my email (or through one of the links on my profile) it may be easier to work it out :) And I loved your hidden message review!

_Nights In The City_: Grats :) Hope you enjoyed!

Thanks again, and keep my fingers typing, wont-cha? 33

Question; **Why didn't the irken cross the milky-way?**

Answer;

**(x-x-x)**

**Laughter:**

Dib's was a cocky thing, Zim's was a cackle, Gir's was a childish giggle - but when they were together, it changed to something soft, warm and comfortable like a real family.

**Open:**

Zim was trained from birth to feel nothing but loyalty to his tallest, trained to be a soldier without emotion - around Dib though, he found himself showing so much emotion he couldn't bear to call himself an irken anymore, which was okay, really, when he could be Dib's lover instead.

**Vibrant:**

The differences that bothered them least (and caused next to no arguments, for a change) was the difference in their colours; Zim with his bright and florescent greens and pinks and Dib with his pale tans and dark shades, which created a smooth contrast that made them look like a work of art when they were together.

**Energy:**

They were a hyperactive pair, jumping from one emotion to another like squirrels, bickering one moment and kissing the next - but it was one of a great list of reasons they were together, that they were the only one to keep up with the other.

**Will-power:**

The years that they fought against each other they pushed on with a strength greater then what lie in their bodies, when they fought together, it was with a strength no other couple could match.

**Only:**

Dib alone could walk into a room with a raging Zim and come out of the encounter unscathed, and usually with a tolerant smile on his face.

**Night:**

Dusk came, swiftly and without any apparent warning, and Zim turned his head to smile at his lover, pressing forward with a tender kiss - this time was theirs.

**Twitching:**

"Zim-" Dib began, his voice high and rather squeaky from his throat, he arched back, gasping, as another merciless advance of Zim's massaging fingers wrought him a trembling, giggling mess - it paid to have a boyfriend who knew human muscle anatomy so well.

**Before:**

Dib ran his hand along his sleeping boyfriends hip, marveling anew at the slightly coarser skin then he himself wore - years ago, he would have wanted to know this difference for science, but now he was content to know it from the touch as it pressed against his own.

**Empty:**

Where before the insults stung like thrown daggers, now they were tinged with affection and hollow of any toxins.

**Lonely:**

Zim sat outside the gym holding the skool dance, watching the stars above him, he didn't know why he'd turned up, honestly - then hesitant footsteps sounded behind him, and Dib silently slid into place beside him, and every thing became clear.

**Earnt:**

Zim never really understood anniversaries, so when a year passed and they were still together, Dib merely gave him a soft kiss, "I think you deserve it for putting up with me."

**Freedom:**

The day Dib moved from his childhood home, and into the base of his childhood enemy he smiled brighter then he ever had before, letting Zim pull him into a tight embrace - there was something so liberating, about making one's own choices.

**Taunt:**

Sometimes, Gir thought as he watched the bedroom with wide-eyes hidden behind the closet door, he didn't understand why the masters had fought for so long, "Zim! I told you not while Gir's watching!"

**Boyfriend:**

"Get out," Membrane demanded, "get lost," Gaz agreed - Zim, the reason for his families sudden abandonment, opened the door wider at the sight of him, "come in."

**Envy:**

Gir quietly tiptoed around the couch where Zim and Dib were curled around each other, he watched a moment as they whispered, then turned to his Piggeh, "will you be _my_ space-boy?"

**Happy:**

Dib was asleep when Zim first noticed it, a warm pressure in his squeedly-splooch that had never been their before, a little worried, the irken pressed a hand against his chest - it wasn't until Dib murmered, "I love you," the next morning that Zim realized what it was.

**Itch:**

Zim curled his spine, making a strange purring sound as he twisted and shifted on the bed - sometimes it helped, having a lover with nails just long enough to scratch without pain.

**Nasty:**

Tak returned once more to the planet Earth, she attempted to storm Zim's base during a 'private' moment, and it was wide eyes and a traumatized mind that she figured it was just better to let sleeping dogs... sleep together.

**Duty:**

Dib only asked once, voice shaky and unsure, what Zim would do if his Tallest called again - while the human slept that night, Zim disconnected the dish that was the only link to his old home.

**(xxx)**


	4. Cold : Katsumi Amaya

**Drabble-Fest hidden Message: **Love wont be left behind.

**A; **he couldn't leave without his human.

**One-shot Dedication: **_Katsumi Amaya_

**Notes on Dedication: **_Katsumi Amaya_ was quick, sweet and came with a challenge :) She requested 'Cold - In a physical and social sense! I'll do my best to keep on keeping on :) Hope you enjoy, _Katsumi Amaya!_

**Summary: **Noun; the relative absence of heat: _Everyone suffered from the intense cold. _Adjective; lacking in passion, emotion, enthusiasm, ardor, etc.; dispassionate: _cold reason. _

**Chapter Warnings: **Angst, sap (again), almost poetic wording of some parts and Keef :D He's so awesome he needs a warning :3

**(xxx)**

**COLD**

Skool was heading to a close.

The ending of many friendships, many relationships and many social clique's.

Student's passed out yearbooks, signed shirts and stuffed toys, they handed out phone numbers, email addresses and tears.

Dib rolled his eyes at the latter. He was grateful to say goodbye to the filthy school and it's equally unhygienic students. His yearbook remained unsigned, the pages usually reserved for that sort of thing filled instead with doodles and notes on his paranormal sightings and plans.

He didn't have any friends in this place, didn't have any lovers, and he didn't belong to any clique... there was nothing for him to do but wait for the final day of skool to come, and go.

The only thing that was stopping this process, was green, short, and still wearing the same old wig-and-contact costume he'd first appeared in.

Zim was almost as un-surrounded at Dib himself, if it wasn't for Keef trying to sign his yearbook every five minutes, he would be just as alone. The irken seemed equally unfazed by his social limitations, though the look on his face had only become commonplace in the last few months.

It was a look of cool indifference.

In the months past Zim had been silent in all senses of the word.

No plans for world domination, no shouts to deny his alien nature and no attempts to fit in to the 'status quo' to make his disguise slightly less shoddy.

The look of indifference rarely shifted to something different. Nothing seemed to bother the irken now, and the times Dib had confronted him about planning something nefarious, the irken merely waved him off with the cold look he'd give everyone else.

It was only when the irken thought no one was watching that he seemed like his usual self.

He wasn't exactly the same as he used to be, he was still silent. But he would watch Dib with a hint of cunning, a bit of planning, hiding in his gaze.

Dib was still trying desperately to hack into his nemesis' computer (again), and so far having no luck. He needed to know what Zim was planning, because so far the irken had seemed like he actually had something serious up his sleeve.

It was the last day of skool all together when Zim finally broke his silence to Dib.

"Dib-stink," the irken called, halting the human as he attempted to flee the crowd rushing through the halls to freedom.

Dib turned, unable to do anything but wait for Zim's approach with his surprise.

"Zim wishes to know if you are attending tonight's 'skool dance'," the last two words were all but spat from the irken's mouth.

"Oh I will be, ZIM," Dib promised, "only to stop whatever evil thing your planning this time."

Finally, _finally_ Zim's face held an expression that looked familiar, though it was there and gone in a flash, "goodly," was all he said, his smirk shifting back before he melded into the crowd racing home to change and plan their nights at the farewell party.

Dib raced home for the latter, determined to hack into Zim's computer and finally find out what the alien was planning. He was sure he could break through before the skool dance, he always worked better with a deadline.

The boy burst in through his front door, letting it's weight close it behind him. He didn't spare his sister a second glance as she growled something about interrupting her.

He took his stairs two and three at a time, throwing his bag on his bed and turning on his laptop in record speed.

The now-familiar irken symbols flashed a kind of welcome to him, and his eyes raced across, fingers dancing on the keypad, trying to find a weak-spot in the alien firewall.

He didn't know how long he searched, only that the sun slowly went down behind his bedroom window, and he only knew that when he reached up to cheer, finally breaking through the defences. He cursed at the moon, knowing the skool dance would have already started.

He forced his fingers to type even faster, searching for everything the irken had recently looked at, added to, or did.

There was only three files. A web-page on the human internet, a video-file and a small document.

Dib opened the web-page first, and had to blink in surprise.

_Skool Farewell._

_The last chance for students to see many of their friends._

_The final farewell to those who helped you through the rough times, steered you to the wrong path, or pushed your head into the toilet-water!_

_It may be the last time you talk to your best friend._

_The last chance to confess your love to that cute boy or girl who sat in front of you in science!_

_The last confrontation you could lose against that jock that made your life hell!_

_So, make sure you dress up if your popular, stay at home if your not, and wear sneakers, just in case you think your one and your really the other!_

Dib frowned in confusion, trying to fit that in to any master plan of Zim's.

It would do well to add melodrama to the plot, whatever it was. Zim's way of paying back the humans that had made his mission harder.

But, really, they hadn't done much. It was Dib that stopped him again and again, and according to this web-page, Dib should 'stay home' instead of attending the stupid thing.

Giving up on working out the plan from this information alone, Dib opened the video-file, startled to see himself running through Zim's lab.

It was almost a year old, when Dib had last installed camera's. He watched himself glance around nervously, installing the devices with more speed then care, one ear perked for sounds that could alert him to Zim's return to the house.

Dib thought he'd gotten away with that. Zim never mentioned it, never caught him or confronted him. The camera's were destroyed, true, but the majority were taken down by the computers security scan, the others by Gir's playing.

Dib watched himself run through ever room and place the camera.

Was Zim's plan some kind of delayed revenge? For something Dib had done hundreds of times, and hadn't succeeded once? Dib had done nothing different. The only thing that was different at all, perhaps, were the frequent glances over his shoulder, some of which caught the camera directly (though Dib couldn't remember seeing it when he had) and gave Dib the eery sensation he was looking at himself.

Giving up yet again, Dib opened the final chance of a hint he had, the document.

It was spelt out in irken, but Dib had practice with the alien language. He could read it almost as well as English, though he still couldn't understand it when Zim hissed insults sometimes.

_The Tallest wont respond._

Dib frowned, the Tallest wouldn't respond to Zim? That was no surprise, really, when the irken leaders were stringing the small invader along. But for Zim to realize it, and to think about it enough to actually type it out and acknowledge it was strange. Profound, almost.

_Can I find anyone who will?_

And the document ended there.

Dib was more confused then he had been before he was hacking his way through Zim's computer.

Nothing. No clue, no blueprints, not even a hint.

Dib glanced up from the computer again, this time to read the clock. He was already an hour and a half late for the farewell. Zim's plan may have already begun.

With a curse at himself, and at the inadequate information given to him from the successful hack, Dib threw on his trench-coat and bolted for the door.

Again, Gaz offered him an irritated growl for interrupting whatever new game she was playing and again Dib didn't look back at her.

He raced towards the skool, flinching inwardly at the music playing, and the group of students leaving the gym and heading home.

At least there would be survivors.

He slid through the doors left open by the students he'd passed, shifting through the one's that remained.

He couldn't see Zim anywhere.

He did, however, see Keef. If anyone knew where the invader was, it would be the hyperactive and stalker-like Keef.

"Dib! I'm so happy to see you! Did you sign my yearbook, will you sign my yearbook, I-"

"Keef," Dib interrupted with an annoyed movement, "have you seen Zim?"

"Oh, of course I have, we're best friends you know," Keef confided in him, "he was looking for you before, he kept asking me if you were here, or if I'd seen you, and I kept telling him, 'why no, Zim, I haven't seen Dib', and he still kept asking me-"

"Where did Zim go?" Dib ground out, getting annoyed with the red-haired boy.

"I think he went outside," Keef began commenting on how he'd seen the irken go out there, but Dib was already sprinting through the gym, this time heading to the double-doors at the back, knowing he would have noticed the irken out the front when he'd gotten there.

Sure enough when he pushed his way outside, he saw the green boy.

Zim wasn't hooking up wires or laughing manically though. He was sitting on a stair, looking up at the stars with an almost morose expression.

Feeling more then a little lost, and somehow knowing that his idea's for the night had all gone sideways and out of the equation, Dib found himself walking towards the invader, and then found himself sitting down.

Zim didn't jump, only shifted his focus slowly. For a moment, Dib saw only gloom on the irken's face.

"Didn't think you were coming," Zim confessed, quietly in contradiction to his nature.

"Thought you were planning the end of the world," Dib confessed, "had to hack into your computer first."

Zim tenced a little, but relaxed again with an almost inaudible huff of breath, "of course you did. You got through?"

Dib nodded, shifting his gaze from the alien to the grass that seemed dull in comparison, "I, uh, that is... I'm sorry about your Tallest."

"You know how it feels, right?" Zim asked in the same quiet and unemotional tone, "to try so hard for nothing?"

"Y-yeah, I know how that feels," Dib felt oddly out of his depth here, almost like he was taking on a role he wasn't prepped for, being Zim's 'shoulder to cry on'.

"I'm not taking over the world," Zim murmured, finally shifting his own gaze, "at least, not for the Tallest."

"Your going to take over the world for yourself?" Dib found himself asking with curiosity.

"Why not?" the irken laughed, bitterly, "I can't make it worse."

"Good point," Dib agreed instantly, before chiding himself. He wasn't supposed to encourage his planet being taken over by an alien, even if it might not mean it's destruction.

"..." Zim was staring at him again, his gaze burning holes through Dib's trench-coat, through his skin and bone and right to his core.

"Would you try and stop me?" the irken asked, finally, "if I tried to take over the world, to keep it for my own?"

Dib had to look up, there was something new in the irkens voice and he found himself almost hypnotized to find out what it was.

Those red eyes were smoldering with something, some kind of emotion Dib couldn't place. But it was burning through the cold ice the irken had been wearing the past through months, heating the air around them both and fighting off the chill in the night air.

Burning a flush across Dib's cheeks, because he couldn't think of anything else that would cause it.

"Maybe," Dib answered, remembering only faintly the question he was answering.

"Would you help me?" Zim asked next, not moving a muscle, not even an eyelid.

There was some kind of tension between them, some kind of force that seemed to demand only the right answer, the wrong one would break it, and it was to precious for that.

"Maybe," Dib repeated, the word slipping out without permission.

Zim smiled, and it to was different. His lips curled at the tips, sharp teeth shining in a way that for once didn't make Dib wonder what need superior aliens had for pointed teeth, had him wondering instead if teeth like that would break human skin, though he didn't know where _that_ though came from, nor the accompanied image that made his flush a little brighter.

"Why did you ask me if I was coming to the skool dance?" Dib asked, the words again just faling from his lips.

The irken's smile faded, though the tension wasn't broken, "I asked because if you didn't, there was no point me being here."

"What did you find in my files?" Zim asked, "how hard did you look?"

Dib, for some reason, had to struggle to remember, though he didn't think to not answer with the truth, "the document about the Tallest," he confessed, "the page about the dance, and a video of me setting up camera's in you base."

He blushed over the last one, a little embarrassed that he didn't know he'd been caught.

"Ah," Zim said. He didn't look away, he looked like he was waiting for something.

Dib frowned in thought. Wondering back over the information he'd found on Zim's computer. The skool dance, a video of Dib, a document.

_'It may be the last time you talk to your best friend._

_The last chance to confess your love to that cute boy or girl who sat in front of you in science!_

_The last confrontation you could lose against that jock that made your life hell!'_

Dib's form racing through Zim's base, his eyes gazing through the camera lens.

_'The Tallest wont respond._

_Can I find someone who will?'_

"Oh," Dib mumbled, flushing brightly, "me?"

Zim chuckled, in a softer way then Dib had heard, but a way that made his flush darken rather then have him tensing.

"Of course it was you, Dib-stupid," the irken commented, though even the insult wasn't snapped, "who else listens? Who else believes?"

"So... where best friends? Because we listen to each other and believe each other? Of course we do, you exist and you _do_ try to take over the world," Dib commented, finally unable to keep it in, if that's all it took he'd have plenty of friends... well, maybe not. Not even his family listened to him...

He shivered slightly with the thought.

"Cold?" Zim asked, voice warm again.

In a moment that made Dib's heart skip a beat and made everything he'd been saying turn on it's head, Zim slid closer, throwing one arm over his shoulders and pulling him closer.

Oh. _Oh._

_'The last chance to confess your love to that cute boy-"_

Dib was Zim's 'cute boy'.

Dib felt his mouth fall open in shock. Bits and pieces of information filtered through him and rearranged. A puzzle he though he'd solved reconnected in a way that made the final picture much more clear.

"Zim hasn't changed that much," Zim confessed, "he's just thinking for himself first now."

He looked aside to meet Dib's eyes, gaze clearer then ever before.

"I'll still try to claim the world for myself, eventually," he promised, "and I still think these worm-babies are idiots with meat-brains."

Dib twitched a little, "I'm human to you know," he reminded the alien, "even if I'm your 'cute boy'."

The invader laughed, loud enough to startle the human, "what's a human without the stupid? What's an irken without Irk?" he asked, he shifted a little closer, "what's a Zim without a Dib?" he asked, voice lowering in a way that made Dib's head spin.

"Z-Zim, we've been enemies for years-"

Zim scoffed in apparent apathy, though his arm tensed as if he only just considered he was putting himself out on a limb, as if he never thought Dib would say 'no'.

Dib tensed in turn, though he didn't know... well, anything. He didn't know if he wanted to throw the first friendly, romantic touch he'd even been given off, just because of history. He didn't know if he wanted it to stay, just because Zim wanted it too. He didn't know if things could work out between them, or if he wanted a relationship with an alien still attempting world domination.

It was to much, to soon. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Instead of either of those things, he retreated to his brain.

Zim may have had months to think things over, if the silence was any indication. He might have planned this for that long, might have wanted it that long, but Dib didn't.

Or, did he?

Now that he thought of it, he too had footage of Zim (albeit a costumed Zim, which didn't make it evidence), and he watched it a lot, usually just after a fight, but not always. Sometimes after a day Zim was absent from school, sometimes a day where they hadn't talked (or shouted).

The months of silence had been empty and mundane. The doodles in Dib's notebook were mostly of Zim.

The difference in race was crossed by a bridge of abandonment they shared. Zim by his leaders and planet, Dib by his family and _his_ planet.

When Dib looked at Zim now, it wasn't just an 'alien' that he saw the first day they attended skool together. He saw Zim.

Another puzzle (this one, Dib hadn't even been aware of) slowly began to peice together. It wasn't complete though, it wasn't finished.

Zim's hand began to shift, taking Dib's silence as a refusal. The tension in the irken's body pointing towards the insict 'flee or fight'.

Dib stared at the incomplete puzzle. Wondering where the missing peices were.

Then, as Zim's hand left his shoulders, leaving in place a bone-deep cold, Dib realised what it was. It was the pieces he couldn't fill. The pieces that weren't in his body. The part of himself that was missing, though never really _missed._

"What's a Dib without a Zim?" he whispered quietly, only knowing as he spoke them, how honest they were.

Zim lost the scowl growing on his face, blinking in frank surprise.

He didn't think he'd be refused, but it seemed he didn't think he'd be accepted either.

Dib turned his head to face the irken, his confidence fragile but holding it's own.

He leant forward, knowing only one way to prove to himself and the irken that he was actually going through with this.

He was still surprised when the irken met him in the middle.

Green and pink lips touched, lingered, pressed again.

Dib's tongue darted out, moistening his dry lips.

He shivered as it brushed the irken's mouth.

Gasped as the irken claimed it before it could retreat.

Tasted the aliens mouth, tested the texture of a foreign tongue, felt his lashes on his cheeks, and the irken's hand on his neck.

The kiss was lingering, chaste despite the sharing of saliva, and confirming that there was no going back to 'enemies' now.

"Didn't think you'd know what I was doing," Dib mumbled, flushed with embarrassment and pleased with the events.

"The mighty Zim hides things even from hackers," Zim chuckled, finally sounding a little like his old self, though tainted with a new warmth.

Dib smiled, finally fully opening his eyes, "so..." he mumbled, "we're taking over the world?"

Zim's smile _really_ blossomed at that and he leapt to his feet, posing heroically, "ZIM will RULE this planet of worm-babies!" he shouted, throwing a fist to the sky in emphasis, "and every one shall worship ME!"

He suddenly looked down to the human smiling, endeared at the return of the irken he'd someone been crushing on without knowing. Zim frowned slightly, but before Dib could ask him what was wrong, his hand were claimed and he found himself hefted to his own feet.

"Every one shall worship US!" he amended.

Dib blushed the brightest yet, and smiled so hard his cheeks ached, he joined in though, when Zim began to _really _laugh.

**(xxx)**

**Ending Authors notes:** ehehe... again with the sap... But, to be fair, until I started this the only fluff I'd written for my OTP involved Zim giving Dib his father's heart... (don't look for it, it needs editing, lol) So maybe I justed needed a little break of the violence (le gasp, what's this teh Jaffa-chan is saying, a break from violence!) never-the less, I will be happy to return to it, and probably will one one-shot down the track.

And yes, this is from the drabble in the last chapter 'lonely'... I liked it, and it seemed to fit 'cold', so I used it. That doesn't classify as cheating, does it?

And Keef was in this one. Duntcha just love Keef :D

Next chapter is a requested Drabble-fest to be posted sometime this week. 33 Keep the reviews coming kiddos, and let me know what you prefer, dark, light, or whatever comes your way.


	5. ZaDr and Looneytunes : Vithian

**Last Drabble-fest Kudo's:** _Katsumi Amaya, Vithian (x2 kudo's for the first chapter also) and Koori (while Koori didn't get the hidden message, their review made me smile)_

**Drabble-fest Dedication: **_Vithian_, with both a hidden message and words in her request (if you look, that's just cheating, lol) Hope you like it, _Vithian!_

**Author Notes:** I made this one a little longer, more usual drabbles rather then the sentence ones I've been posting. Hope ya'll enjoy! First poster with the hidden message and a request get's the one-shot, though those who request something later will get there's when theres a break in responses. (or when I have inspiration for a drabble-fest or something myself).

Question; **What do ZaDr and loony-tunes characters have in common?**

Answer;

**(x-x-x)**

**Melodious:**

Gir was the singer of the 'family', Dib couldn't hold a tune and Zim never bothered to try. Gir's strange concoctions of song was the radio of the household, the backdrop of noise when either or both his masters were busy doing something else. It was, however, the soft noises Zim made when sleeping that Dib found to be the most sweet-sounding.

**Yodel:**

Zim's rants were oddly tuned, with high notes, low notes and a ringing volume. It was rarely softer, rarely sweeter, but if it were common, Dib wondered if it would be as precious.

**Lucky:**

Dib was too happy in the presence of his irken lover not to claim his boyfriends hand when they left the base. He was also to preoccupied with his thoughts, and trying to decipher his lovers to notice the odd-looks, the leery-stares and the hostile gazes. It was Zim who noticed, but instead of pulling his grip free from the humans in an attempt to fit in, the alien held tighter and smirked, knowing (in the same way he knew he was superior to all those worm-babies) that they were just envious of his good fortune.

**Other:**

Zim was the first and only one to show affection towards Dib. Dib was the only one Zim had ever shown affection too. For them, there was nobody else.

**Vendetta:**

The years of fighting were usually kept behind them, like a history book gathering dust on the top shelf. If it was brought into conversation, or argument, the other would rage and they would scream at each other until one of them would storm off and let them both calm down. It was usually patched up the same way though, whispers of future world-domination, and soft kisses made to sooth any hurt.

**Everyone:**

The world seemed to be against them some days, either plotting to kill them, or break them apart. It was these days that they fell beside each other on the bed, tired from the never-ending drama's of 'adult life'. It was always Dib who whispered first, "I love you," and Zim only occasionally answered with words, but it was always a healing thing, when they forgot about everybody but each other.

**Witness:**

Dib watched the computer monitor from the bed Zim had left him on the verges of sleep, his face was still flushed and lazy, but his smile was brighter then the sun. Zim's figure was calm and methodical as he pulled down the irken dish from the roof without a pause for second thoughts.

**Ocular:**

When Dib shouted, "because I'm dating Zim!" in the middle of the Hi-Skool cafeteria, Zim rolled his eyes but smiled. When Zim kissed him hard in front of Dib's new boss, Dib's eyes could only widen. When either of the pair pulled the other to the bed, their eyes could only glaze with lust and lower with pleasure. Their days were filled with rash-behavior, unabashed personalities and of course, many many optical theatrics.

**Nitrogen:**

If Zim was the Nitrogen, Dib was the Oxygen, and when they met it was like a breath of fresh air in a stale and polluted environment.

**Tenatious:**

The hold Dib had on Zim went without spoken words, but the bond between them was steadfast. No matter the argument's they shared, the opinions they didn't and the past they were trying not to think about there was nothing on any planet that could pull them apart.

**Death:**

No, not even the afterlife could separate them.

**Illuminate:**

Dib never realized, amongst his search for paranormal life, how empty his life was. even after finding Zim, and fighting Zim, it was only starting to fill out. Since he and Zim began dating though, he couldn't remember all that much of the dark world before, now Zim's presence was only brightening his future.

**Eternity:**

Zim looked around, clucking his tongue slightly and fiddling with some irken device in his hand. Dib slipped into the room, his glance full of wonder as he padded over to his lover.

"It's huge," the human acknowledged.

Zim smirked, "as it should be," he agreed, he motioned for the human to come closer as he sat in the padded chair behind the huge desk. Dib obediently came closer, yelping as he was pulled atop his lovers lap, "this is our throne," he informed the younger man.

"Our throne?" Dib asked, making himself comfortable despite the open door across the room.

Zim chuckled, nudging the device from his hand to Dib's, "our world domination begins here."

Dib read the file, eyes skimming over the irken letters and making a small smile curve his lips.

"We'll rule forever," the human summed up.

Zim began to laugh, tugging his lover closer, ignorant of the device landing with a 'thuck' on the floor.

The words 'CLONING EXPERIMENT - SUCCESS' blinked up at the world.

**Author Notes:** Please excuse the length of the last one. It had to be written out in detail, mwahaha. Endless lifetimes of ZaDr, yesh plez! Next fic will be a one-shot for whoever finds the hidden message first... hopefully without cheating!


	6. RecognitionDedication

**Drabble-fest Hidden Message: **'My Love Won't Die'

**Answer: **They both are ageless, timeless and will never die (no matter what Nickelodeon says)

**One-shot Dedication: **Koori (again you made me smile and your answer made me grin all day), Vithian (despite the last chapter, haha), Invader Ang (ahhh, you spoil me to much! 33), (perfect amount of words, dear-heart) and SingingFoxes (I can't get over your username, I just love foxes!)

**Notes on Dedication:** Plenty of requests for Drabble-fests, not-a-one for One-shots :P Guess I have to come up with a few one-shots on my lonesome. The drabble-fests to come next are dedicated in order to the following; Invader Ang, and Vithian =] I'm looking for One-shot requests to go between them, but if you have none, I'll work something out. Thanks for all the reviews, they blow me away :3

**Summary:** It was in all they gave, all they fought with and for. Somehow, even through the hope, they forgot to wish for it back.

**Chapter Warnings: **Angst. Some sap.

**Recognition / Dedication**

Zim was an irken soldier. An invader, the symbol on his Pak and dotted all over his base were obvious enough for anyone who happened to realize.

His life was lived for the irken elite - he was bred and born to serve them with unwavering dedication, unweakening resolve.

But the Tallest abandoned him.

Somewhere along the line, as Zim searched and fought and tried despirately to earn their recognition, he was abandoned by them.

Zim wasn't 'normal' for an irken, though he always pointed out that's his awesomeness showing through, but after being abandoned, exiled more surely then his time in Food-courtia, he spent time wondering if it was because of his unique awesomeness he was cast aside without comment.

Then, he saw Dib's glare aimed in his direction. Caught the human's watchful gaze, his observant motions.

Somewhere in the depth's of those eyes, written between the lines on the boys over-large head, Zim saw recognition.

Dib was the only one who knew about the invader in their midst. The only one who cared enough to notice, the only one who fought enough to keep him from taking the world over.

His life was full of hissed insults, muttered comments about his mental health and silence where his family should have given him reassurances.

Dib was alone - in a planet with billions of people, he was alone.

It didn't matter to anyone else how many years he'd fought the alien from destroying them all, didn't matter how long he'd protect him - they didn't believe him. Even Gaz, who knew, wouldn't listen...

Dib wasn't 'normal' by their standards, though his ability to discover the alien had saved the world countless times. He wasn't accepted by his peers, wasn't acknowledged by his family, hell even his shrink didn't listen to him. After all this time of being ignored, not a day went by he didn't dream of being praised for his actions.

Then, he noticed Zim's silence. Wondered about his motives, watched for any signs of a new, delayed plot forming.

Somewhere in the depth's of his being he sensed something, some sort of dedication despite their failures that they only ever saw through the other.

After the ending of the school year, the parting from their 'peers' and usual routine, Zim and Dib grew closer.

It was a teetering ledge they balanced on, as they tried to assimilate themselves into each others lives. It was a tentative silence they shared, a border-line hate running through them both.

They fought a lot during the first few months. Bitterness from the history they shared breaking out and enslaving them in both old memories and new one's. It wasn't easy to forget the past, despite the way they tried.

But... their interactions now, were different regardless.

Flavored with kisses and shared secrets, murmured words and heart-felt confessions. Similarities they once refused to think of, now wonderful and something to be shared.

When the board wobbled between the attraction-affection and the lingering hate, they played a game of tug-of-war with themselves.

Bickering, kissing, fighting, caring.

The days they shared in Zim's base watching the 'teevee', the walks they shared between their houses... these things began to steady the board, foundations being built (better later then never).

Slowly, the bickering became tainted with affection. Quietly, the kisses became more frequent, more lingering. Gently, the fights were ending swifter, smoother. The caring only grew in strength, though it was an unspoken emotion between them.

Eventually, the irken without Irk and the human without 'stupid' came to belong together.

Then, one day when Dib returned home, smiling and happy from a day with his 'boyfriend', came face to face with the most attention he'd ever gotten from his family.

Dib shouted, enraged.

No one listened.

He threw things, screamed things, demanded things.

No one listened.

He packed his bags.

No one stopped him.

He divorced himself from the family, exiled himself the only way they hadn't done for him.

No one stopped him.

Membrane pointed at the door. Gaz returned to her game-slave.

Dib left.

Every step he took seemed heavier and heavier.

Every time he blinked he was fighting back tears.

He didn't know why he expected any different, though he cursed the fact he couldn't.

Zim opened the door to his base, pushing the robotic parents out of the way.

He raised a brow at the human, silently asking why he'd returned not three hours after leaving.

He raised the other at the sight of the duffel-bag on Dib's shoulder, eyes widening a little at the sight of tears.

"Dad found out," Dib murmured, softly in case his voice would break and the tears would overwhelm him, "I didn't know where else to go."

Zim hesitated only a moment, and it was somehow a moment that didn't sting as those pink eyes slowly seemed to connect the dots. Then the irken shifted, stepping aside from the door.

"There's no where else you belong," the irken whispered, in one of the rare moments he was focused on the conversation, rather then reminding the world how great he was through them.

Dib's smile was shaky, but bright.

Zim's echo was similar.

And something grew atop the foundation's they'd spent months building.

**(xxx)**

**A.N:** Just wanted to fill in a few gaps between drabbles and one-shots. I like the flow this collection had so far, it's all connectible so far :P Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews xxx


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